Poo training - WWYD?

[Acinonyx]

DD has been potty training for nearly a year now - she will be 4 in July. Poo is our big problem. She holds onto it and has been on Movicol since Jan. At home she usually waits for her night nappy or poos in her knickers (often small rabit poos) but apparently sometimes poos in the toilet at CM's

CM thinks I should ditch the nappies completely to force her to poo in the toilet but I am very uncertain about this. Since she doesn't poo in the toilet at home I think she may just poo in her knickers constantly - and I also don't think she is ready to be dry at night. OTOH, I can see that if she always knows there will be a nappy, there is really no incentive to poo on the toilet.

My biggest fear about ditching the nappies is that she will get used to pooing in her knickers and that will be a really tough habit to break. At the moment she does it but is not really happy about it.

Any advice or personal experience gratefully received. I really don't know what to do for the best.

[tribalbaby]

Hi Acinonyx,
this is a really common issue with nappy use.
I'd be uncertain about the 'forcing her to poo in the loo" concept too!

Here's a couple of ideas for you:

-rabbit like poo - makes me think not enough water or fibre, which may indicate constipation. This can mean pain and then fear about doing a poo - compounding the problem. You might try vit C and probiotics to balance gut flora, and lots of vit C helps them to go, and is natural in that any the body doesn't need os expellled as waste.

• constipation can stretch their bowel muscles so that they loose the sensations of knowing when to go. They can then have runny poos around a big poop! Perhaps visit your Dr for a chat.

• When a poo accident occurs, go together and plop the poop into the loo, and reassure that you will help next time, as much as she needs (confidence is often an issue)

You'll get through this together.
Charndra

Pop over to Part Time Nappy Free to discover a bit more about Baby Pottying as a way to gradually reduce your nappy use.

[Acinonyx]

Thanks - we've been to the drs and we are treating the constipation which is entirely due to actively witholding poo rather than diet.

I had forgotten about taking the poo to the toilet - I will do that and see if I can persuade her that that is where poo really belongs!

[katylou25]

If she's still doing the rabbit poo type poos then the constipation isn't being effectively treated. My ds was on movical for 18 months and completely failed to train and then we saw a constipation specialist who changed his medication to something that would give him an overwhelming sensation that he needed to go and within a week he was pooing in the toilet!

Lots and lots of talking about happy poos going down the toilet to see their firends etc etc was also something we were told and letting them see your poo in the toilet??!!

[mumof2222222222222222boys]

My DS2 is a bit younger(2.5), but has had an issue with pooing in potty / on loo. Last night we had success - first time in 2/3 months. He jumped up and said, "I want my Thomas duvet". Perhaps bribery along with everything else might help?

PS We had another poo in the nappy this am, so not total success, but it is a start.

by the way, he is in pants all day. Trying not to make an issue of it, but I do say, " Poor Thomas / Noddy / Cars are all dirty now."

[Acinonyx]

I think you are right katylou - we probably need to increase the treatment. My only fear is that she will just do it in her knickers rather than the toilet but I guess we will have to face that at some point. How did you get to see the specialist - did your gp refer you?

We do lots of happy poo talk - having poo parties etc. She always comes with me to the loo - can't be on her own at all.

We have done a ton of bribery - big bribes, little ones - alsorts. It works for wees (she has a chocalate from a box if she has no accidents all day) but it hasn't worked at all for poos. Or rather, it has worked very occaisionally then gone straight back as we were as though it never happened

[tribalbaby]

"We have done a ton of bribery - big bribes, little ones - alsorts. It works for wees (she has a chocalate from a box if she has no accidents all day) but it hasn't worked at all for poos. Or rather, it has worked very occaisionally then gone straight back as we were as though it never happened " That means it is likely the other issue - constipation or even a food intolerance.

[TheChewyToffeeMum]

If she is still having rabbit-poo I would go back to the GP - she may need her movicol dose adjusted. (ps. I am a GP and this is a really common problem, they will have seen it before and should refer to paeds if they can't fix it themselves)

[NellyTheElephant]

As others have said you do need to get the constipation fixed, the problem may then just right itself.

Following that - you say that your biggest fear is that she will go in her knickers. I'm not sure why you see this as an issue - they all do poos in their knickers during the course of training and trust me, they don't like it. It's a mess, and uncomfortable and it squidges out and is a nightmare to change. I very much doubt she would see her knickers as being like a nappy.

DD2 took a fair bit longer to train for poos than for wees, so I had quite a lot of experience of poos in knickers. Firstly - make sure you have knickers with fairly close fitting legs so it can't just fall out onto the floor! When it happens the easiest way to deal with it (if at home) is to lift her straight into an empty bath so when you take the pants off no poo lands on the floor! then use the shower attachment to clean her off. Plop the poo out of the knickers into the loo, explain that the poor little poo wants to go into the loo to find her friends! Chuck the knickers (you can buy lots of v cheap knickers and washing the poo off is soul destroying). Try not to get too stressed or make too much of an issue of it (easier said than done!) encourage her (i.e., never mind, next time I'm sure the poo will go in the loo).

Rather than a constant steam of bribery, we eventually had the idea of getting some of DD2's favourite chocolate and left it on a high shelf above the loo -very much in plain sight. I didn't mention it much, but did tell her clearly when I put it there that she could have it when she managed to do a poo in the loo - it was an incentive and most definitely worked as shortly afterwards she managed it and got the chocolate! And despite a short relapse when DS was born we haven't looked back.....

[Jilly285]

Hello all, my darling son who is now 4 will not poo on the toilet at all - he will pee on the loo just fine but he has hysterics, tantrums the lot when I try to put him on the toilet for a poo. I have tried outright bribery, new toy cars in plain view etc. and am now getting really concerned. He seems to wait until he's in his pyjamas and does it in bed, even though I've stopped putting nappy pants on him at night for the past week. Any suggestions? Have been to the health visitor and doctor who suggested a sticker chart which so far has had no effect and I can't keep up with washing sheets.